Q: Why is it that I, like most women, do not have confidence in my ability to defend myself?

A: One of the reasons you probably don’t think you are able to defend yourself is because you have been indoctrinated by society, especially as a woman, to believe that you should not, or could not, fight back if assaulted.  You may have been told that you increase your risk of injury if you resist.  You should know that there is very little evidence to support this. In fact the opinion of many researchers, law enforcement agencies, and organizations with expertise in violence against women, including KIDPOWER, is that if you are attacked your best chance of avoiding serious injury is to fight back. 

Now this is a very personal decision, and you may choose in some circumstances not to fight back. That is of course up to you. However this choice should not be made based on the misconception that to fight back would likely make matters worse. It is theoretically possible that it could. Some rapists have reported after the fact that it was the resistance of the victim that made him angry enough to kill.  The problem is that he might have killed anyway, and it is impossible for you to identify this type of attacker in advance. Fortunately, the numbers are in your favor that resistance will help, not harm you.

Nor should the decision not to resist be made because you believe you are not capable of fighting back, because you are.